Thursday, October 28, 2010

Mr. A's review of....Tetsuo: The Iron Man

The StoryWhile driving though an industrial district somewhere in Tokyo, a middle-aged salary-man and his over-sexed girlfriend accidentally run over a strange man who (unknown to them) enjoys shoving pieces of metal into random open wounds. Trying to cover up this near-homicide, the salary-man's girlfriend convinces him to dump the body in the neighboring wooded areas.Thinking that this particular nightmare is over, the salary-man goes back to his normal life of eating breakfast alone, riding the train to work, and boning his crazy-looking girlfriend.That is until he discovers random pieces of metal growing out of his face. Drawn into a psychedelic world of insane dreams and murder, the salary-man must eventually do combat with the Metal Fetishist, the man whom he had hit with his car. What is the Fetishist's ultimate plan and can the salary-man stop it before he's totally consumed by metal?

The ReviewI know I said in the last podcast that I didn't want to watch this film, but after all the hype and the third one probably hitting shores some time soon (the third also being the only one in the series that really piqued my interest), I figured I'd give it a shot. Probably not the best idea I've ever had...The cinematography,while a great style to cover up the fact that this thing was shot for a dime, is almost unwatchable. The acting isn't all that great, but I suppose that in a film where most of the "acting" is yelling and freaking out there isn't much to hope for.The plot is almost non-existent and whatever fragments you can pull out are usually bat-sh*t crazy anyway. It's almost like Tsukamoto Shinya (writer, producer, director, and Metal Fetishist) choked down a hand-full of pharmaceuticals before writing this script.

The VerdictI can't honestly recommend this film to anyone, mostly because I can't see anyone I know actually liking it. I watched this with fellow podcaster Zyconis and within the first fifteen minutes he said "F*ck this" and started playing Minecraft.If you're not a fan of art-house films or anything even REMOTELY close to those type of things, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THIS FILM!!!! It's a headache on celluloid with almost no redeeming qualities!ALTHOUGH I do understand why people like this film. It's unique, trippy, and the last fight between the salary-man and the Fetishist is oddly cool. That being said, if you got a bottle of aspirin (or a bottle of Jack) and you want to experience something new, go ahead and give it a shot. It clocks in at a little over an hour so even if you don't like it you won't suffer horribly long.

Labels

What "Otaku" Means To Us

In American culture, the term otaku is used to describe a person with an interest (obsessive, for most cases) in Japanese animation (Anime.) However, in modern Japanese slang the world is used as a broad descriptor, referring to a fan of any particular theme, topic or hobby.

Specific examples include:

Anime otaku - a fan of Japanese animation;

Cosplay otaku - a fan of cosplay (a type of performance art whose participants dress themselves in the style of a particular character or idea);

For purposes of accuracy, we at The Otaku 5-0 Show prefer to use the modern Japanese usage of the word when referring to ourselves. Additionally, we feel that the American usage of the word is similar to the words dork, geek or nerd, and is thus a more offensive word when used in this context.

However, we welcome reasoned debate over this particular issue.

Mahalo,~Totoro (Creator, Executive Producer)

Links

Welcome To The Otaku 5-0 Show!

Aloha everybody!

On behalf of our podcast team, I would like to welcome you to the current home of The Otaku 5-0 Show, which includes our audio podcast and feature articles covering a wide array of geek-related subjects.

We recorded our first audio podcast episode in August of 2008, and we were quite pleased with the progress we've made. However, we have been on an extended hiatus since February of 2013, but we hope to return to production at a later date.

On each episode you will find uncompensated (we're saying it because we want to, not because we're paid to) discussion & commentary for various entertainment-related subjects. Recently, we have started recording audio commentary tracks for our favorite (and not-so-favorite) movies.

We hope that you find this site to be a pleasant, yet professional experience. As such, we welcome any feedback that you have. Feel free to e-mail us at:

Otaku50podcast@gmail.com

Enjoy the fruits of our labors. I hope you have as much fun listening to our podcast as we have recording them!